Knotted Up

The NBA Finals is tied up 1 to 1 between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics. Game 1 saw the Celtics stealing a game on the road. The Warriors had been undefeated at home all playoffs this year until game 1. The Warriors held Jayson Tatum to just 10 points. Yet his impact on the game came elsewhere. Finishing with 13 assists, Tatum took on the role of distributor for the C’s. 3 Celtics finished over 20 points in the 12-point victory. Al Horford had one of those big games again. He tallied 26 points and shot 6-8 from 3-point range. Jaylen Brown had 24 points and Derrick White had 21. White was just as efficient as Horford shooting 5-8 on 3’s. All of this nullifies the performance that Steph Curry had in the 1st quarter. The hot start Curry had in the 1st quarter seemed to be on track for one of the greatest finals performances ever. Curry exploded for 21 points shooting 7-9 from the field and 6-8 from the 3-point arc. I give the Celtics credit, even with Curry being lights out, they remained poised and finished the quarter down 4 points. Ime Udoka made the necessary adjustments and the C’s were no longer leaving Curry wide open on the 3 ball. The game was then tighter going into halftime with the Celtics holding on to a 2-point lead. Then comes the 3rd quarter. Surely the Celtics saw flashbacks to their Miami series in the Eastern Conference Finals where they gave up 39 points to the Heat in the 3rd quarter. Although not as bad as game 1 versus the Heat, Celtics were still in it by the 4th quarter being down 12 points. This may seem like a huge deficit for a team that has 0 Finals experience opposed to the Warriors who find themselves in their 6th Finals in 8 years. The lead was not safe as the C’s started the 4th quarter on a 9-0 run to cut the Warriors’ lead to 3. It would go back and forth for a few minutes and then the floodgates were opened when Derrick White and Al Horford would go on to score 17 of the final 23 points for the Celtics. There would be 5 made threes to push the Celtics lead to 117-103 which would put the nail in the coffin of game 1 for the Warriors. The game would be over with 1:44 left in the game. The hot start Curry saw in the first quarter would fade into a 5-16 from the field and 1-6 from 3-point range the rest of the game.

After going down 1-0 at home to the Celtics, the Warriors knew what they had to do to bounce back in game 2. Curry led the way for the Warriors with 29 points. The biggest impact on the game that you won’t be able to see in the stat sheet, was Draymond Green. Green was a menace from the opening whistle to the final buzzer. He was barking at the refs and picking fights with the entire Celtics team. Even in the post-game press conference with Jaylen Brown he mentioned Green “likes to muck it up” on the floor. Brown was one of the victims of Green’s antics. Picking up a technical foul early in the first quarter, Green used that to his advantage the rest of the game knowing the refs would not call another to send Green back to the locker room. This strategy also worked for Draymond in round 2 against the Grizzlies, when Draymond was charged with a Flagrant 2 foul. I do think Draymond will not get the benefit of the doubt going forward as in his post-game presser from game 2, he acknowledged that he is allowed to be the way he is due to his reputation and won’t get called for his reactions towards the referees. Unlike game 1 of the Finals, the Warriors would dig in on defense and put the game away outscoring the Celtics 35-14 in the 3rd quarter. Then there was the final dagger into the hearts of the Celtics when Jordan Poole was able to drain a shot 39 feet from the basket as time expired. The Warriors would cruise to the finish line with an easy victory. Most starters were out in the 4th quarter with the final score being 107-88. Albeit both games did not end up being close by the end, our series is still tied. Which sets the rest of the finals up to be entertaining. Will we see the Celtics extend their unbeaten streak after a loss in these playoffs? This will be known Wednesday night when game 3 gets underway in Boston.